Chinese Mutilate Queen`s English In Hong Kong

DATELINE

April 20, 1989|By BARBARA BASLER, The New York Times

HONG KONG -- In Hong Kong, a British colony for almost 150 years, English is the official language of the courts and government, English classes are compulsory for all Hong Kong students, and English-language television and radio stations, newspapers and movies abound.

But in Hong Kong, English is in trouble.

The menu in a tourist restaurant promises ``choicest tender and juicy beef, cooked to utmost liking of what a business man prefer.``

The promotional letter for a line of English grammar textbooks reads, ``here enclosed with is the new catalogs.`` An advertising executive interviewing a job candidate sternly declares that ``fluent English is a rerequisite.``

When a distinguished linguist from Oxford University recently delivered a speech on the state of Hong Kong`s English, the title of his lecture was: ``The worst English in the world?``

A growing number of academics, businessmen and community leaders say that the colony is experiencing a decline in the standard of written and spoken English that could gravely affect its future.

Many people think that when Hong Kong is returned to China in 1997, its bilingual ability -- which has helped make it an international business, financial, manufacturing and tourist center -- will be an insurance policy, that it can remain secure and relatively autonomous only if it can function as China`s special window on the Western world.

Those concerned with the problem of English emphasize that it has nothing to do with an abstract desire to see the colony speak the language of its departing rulers.

``This is not a question of `Rule Britannia,` said George Cardona, a British banker involved in a campaign to improve Hong Kong`s English.

``The fact is, English is the language of finance, of business, of science and technology and Hong Kong needs English to survive economically.``

Although the Chinese think that they must learn some English to succeed, they do not care for the language, educators say.

At Hong Kong University, where English is the language of instruction, it is an open secret that some teachers are lecturing in Cantonese because the students cannot follow lectures in English.

``English tends to be seen as the language of the governors, the language of colonial power and therefore it has a certain stigma,`` said T.L. Tsim, the director of the Chinese University Press.

Officials say that signs of the decline in English are all around, from the students in Hong Kong`s English-language university who cannot follow class lectures to the ``bilingual`` bank tellers, telephone operators, government clerks, secretaries and salespeople whose English is limited to broken phrases.

The government, which says it is producing students who are just as competent as ever, recently began recruiting English-language teachers in Britain, flying them to Hong Kong and paying for their housing as well as their salary and benefits.

``The Hong Kong community has a language problem on its hands, and knows it,`` said Roy Harris, an Oxford linguist recently appointed chairman of the department of English studies and comparative literature at Hong Kong University.

Some language experts say there is a ``Hong Kong English,`` and classify it as one of the ``new Englishes`` along with Caribbean, Indian and Nigerian English.

Experts say that new Englishes arise when native populations develop their own, rules and pronunciations for English.